RESULT OF OUR EFFORTS After about two months of ups and downs, of laughter and frustration, of succes and failure, we finally came up with something that works quite well. Only a few minor problems remain unsolved, all of them related to the mechanical coupling between the horizontal and the vertical degrees of freedom. For instance, there is a small range of positions, namely when the vertical degree of freedom is at nearly its highest position, where the voltage applied to the A/D-converter input channel is lower than 0V. Consequently, the controller fails in this range, because it doesn't get a correct measurement of the position. Also, the software correction for the measurement of the horizontal position is not perfect. The horizontal position still varies slightly when the vertical degree of freedom moves. These problems could all be solved by attaching another potentiometer to the robot, that measures the horizontal position directly. We have already taken some steps in that direction, but weren't able to finish it due to lack of time. But despite these imperfections, we are quite proud of our achievements. We hope that they will satisfy the requirements for the accurate positioning of the microphone. Click to WATCH A SHORT VIDEO OF THE ROBOT IN ACTION   WHAT WE'VE LEARNED? Because this was the first really practical project we had to cope with, we made quite a few errors due to lack of experience. But we have certainly learned from them as well, which was the main goal of this project. For example, the next time we design an electronical circuit, we'll make sure to provide decoupling capacitors for the supply lines of every microchip and to separate supply lines for power components and signal processing components. After days of testing, gazing and piling up tiny or less tiny mistakes we developped in a sense each for ourselves some methods to detect, restore or maybe even prevent them. A complicated way of saying that we've developped a lot of practical experience. In the end 'learning to handle things yourself' often comes after 'learning from other people'. We would like to thank those people, especially Jean Paul Schepens, whose mind baffling riddles were always keeping us on the right - you could easily have read 'wrong' here - track. This line ends our 'conclusion' chapter and the project itself. If a question popped up, don't hesitate to contact us by e-mail. Sincerely Yours,   Pieter, Günther, Kris 07-05-2004